"Stand True, like Rock For Life, will stand for all human life without exception and will remain uncompromising in our stance.
Stand True is also concerned about the souls of the men and women involved with the abortion industry and wants to see them all come to Christ. We are committed to not only bring an end to abortion, but see souls saved through our work."

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I am protesting, protesting

In the fight against abortion there’s a time and place for protests or the use of graphic photos. However, protesting the women seeking abortion is not something we should do at all.

By Bryan Kemper

If you have ever seen the movie PCU, you will understand what I mean by protesting, protesting. The movie makes fun of people who live to protest, they find something wrong with everything and protest it to get their points across.

I used to be a major protester. I would drop everything for a good protest. I have been to jail several times, been sued by Janet Reno twice, and am considered a hate criminal by the country of Canada. I used to have protest signs in my vehicle at all times, and my kids would love to "go hold signs".

Now, I am not saying that protesting is bad. I think there is definitely a time and place for protesting. Look at the civil rights movement. It proved that protesting can work, and in big ways.

I would drop everything for a good protest. I have been to jail several times, been sued by Janet Reno twice.

I did most of my protesting at abortion clinics. I used to hold giant bloody signs and yell at the people going into the clinics. I would yell "Shame on you, for killing your baby," or "Real men don't have their babies murdered." I was always ready with a remark to those people walking into the clinic, but never ready to listen to them. I was more [worried about] proving my point, that many times I never gave them a chance to ask for help.

I want to make it clear that I believe strongly in going to abortion clinics. In fact, the pro-life group I direct, Stand True, does hold 24-hour prayer vigils at abortion clinics. However, we will not be holding giant signs and yelling.

I have been a pro-life activist for many years and have seen many different methods of outreach at abortion clinics. The one thing I know that works better than any other method is prayer and sidewalk counseling.

Why are we there in the first place? Is it just to stop someone from having an abortion? I hope that is not the only reason we are there. The women entering the clinic are not just stopping in for an abortion like it was a trip to the grocery store. Most of the women that go into these clinics are scared, lonely, and don't know where else to turn. They believe this is their only way out and there is no one that will help them. They believe abortion is their only hope.

The one thing I know that works better than any other method is prayer and sidewalk counseling.

I have personally seen this for many years. I have talked to hundreds of men and women outside of abortion clinics and heard them talk about how this was the only way, and that there was no one to help them. I have heard how scared they are and how hurt they are because they think no one cares. I have seen parents forcibly escorting their daughter into a clinic as she was bawling her eyes out. I have seen young girls walk out doubled over in pain as their boy friends just sit in the car smoking, not even willing to get out and open the door.

Now, I want to include some of an article I just read about Sharon Osbourne and her experience with abortion.

"Everybody has something in the closet, and I reckon the best policy is always to be honest, then it can't come back to haunt you," she says. And she holds her hands up to her own "big mistakes". The biggest brings her to tears. "I had an abortion at 17 and it was the worst thing I ever did. It was the first time I'd had sex, and that was rotten. I'd always thought it was going to be all violins, and it was just awful.

"I was two months gone when I realized. I went to my mum and she said, without pausing for breath: 'You have to get rid of it.'

"She told me where the clinic was, then virtually pushed me off. She was so angry. She said I'd got myself in this mess, now she had to get me out.

"But she didn't come. I went alone. I was terrified. It was full of other young girls, and we were all terrified and looking at each other and nobody was saying a bloody word. I howled my way through it, and it was horrible.

Sharon Osbourne: 'I had an abortion at 17 and it was the worst thing I ever did.'

"I would never recommend it to anyone because it comes back to haunt you. When I tried to have children, I lost three—I think it was because something had happened to my cervix during the abortion. After three miscarriages, they had to put a stitch in it.

"In life, whatever it is, you pay somewhere down the line. You have to be accountable."

This is typical of what a lot of young girls think and feel when they are going into abortion clinics. This is why we need to be doing so much more than just protesting. We need to be there to offer hope and love for these girls.

Imagine yourself walking to an abortion clinic, scared out of your mind. On one side of the street you see people with giant bloody signs yelling and telling you not to murder your baby. On the other side, you see someone smiling, and asking you if you are OK. Is there anything they can do to help you? Can they offer you some information about a free Pregnancy Help Center that is willing to help you and your baby? What side would you go to?

These girls don't need to be protested; they need to be loved. They don't need a lecture; they need someone to talk to them, and listen to them, and be there for them. These girls need to know that we care about them just as much as we care about their baby.

If we scare them off and they don’t have an abortion, that is fine, but what happens a year later when they're in the same situation again?

If we scare them off and they don't have an abortion, that is fine, but what happens a year later when they are in the same situation again? What happens to that baby in a few years when he or she grows up in the same environment? We need to be there to offer these women hope, not just scare them off. We need to be there to listen to them and share Christ with them. We need to be praying for their hearts to change, not just their minds.

I do encourage you all to go to an abortion clinic. If you are not able to talk to the men or women going in, then pray for them. Pray that God will put someone into their lives that can show them His love and share Christ's hope.

Now, don't think I am saying that there is not a time and place for protests or the use of graphic photos. I think there is a time and place. Protesting abortion is something I can agree we all should do. However, protesting the women seeking abortion is not something we should do at all.

July 29, 2005

BRYAN KEMPER is the founder of Rock For Life, a youth pro-life music ministry. He is now the director of Stand True, a Christ-centered organization which inspires youth to take a stand and become active in the pro-life cause.

I had an abortion and am glad. I later had two beautiful children whom would not have been born if I'd been a single mom dropped out of school. I prayed to the incoming spirit in the 5 week embryo to postpone their life and wait for me. Anti-choice people are so un-loving in their actions, and have hurt women more than abortions. I do not believe that an embryo is a human. It has POTENTIAL but is not survivable, nor in my religious tradition has the soul entered until birth. I wish we could heal the divide between fundamentalists and the rest of the world and focus on prevention, but not eliminating the choice for abortion when birth control was used and failed or all the other reasons economic and otherwise that do force women to choose. This debate has divided our culture and the majority of us prefer choice in some circumstances. The backlash will come, the RICO act will help identify the connection of abortion clinic fire bombers and show their Christian faith to be as hateful as any common criminal. It would be wonderful if folks were okay to NOT choose abortion, and understand in this not-perfect world that they have no right to make that choice for others. Nature "aborts" 50% of all embryos. Is that God killing? Focus on helping conditions for all children. During this anti-choice campaign the percentage of real children in poverty has increased, especially under our Christian-identified Bush president.

10.03.05 spy1 says:

This is an excellent article. My problem is that I feel called to be present and praying, and on occasion speaking to someone - only a couple of people so far-- but I feel conflicted about the circumstances. One abortion center I can't even go to because a person who's ALWAYS there is really offensive. I went once and never went back. It made my heart hurt because the person is making it worse and making prolifers look like a pack of freaks. (I was challenged however to hear that this person recently received gratitude from a woman whose child was saved by the very approach that makes me sick. I could hardly believe that! But God has His ways.) The other center, it's mostly loving prayerful stuff, but even there people say things sometimes that I don't like. I feel I'm called to pray there, so I just sort of deal with it. The main folks are really loving and fantastic, which makes it better, and all of us are just trying to do what we hope helps. If I wait for the perfect situation, I'll never do it at all! I don't understand the anger, because praying there and actually seeing these poor souls going in the mill actually relieved my anger. I just want to cry, not yell at them, because it's the work of the evil one and people really hardly know what they're doing. Screaming "murderer" at people is never helpful. In fact it drives them MORE into the clinic, because they think you're a nutcase. While it's technically speaking true, especially of abortion providers, it doesn't even work. I think we can be challenging if necessary without being mean. The one who is the most successful is the one who doesn't even use guilt, but who uses love and offers IMMEDIATE help.

08.04.05 kennyw says:

It is a dreadful alternative. I can't say too much because yes, I am a man, I am never going to face this moment.I live with a woman who did. When she was married, thank you. She became pregnant--by her husband, thank you. She was in what she said was a psychologically damaged state and didn't know if she could do it. She went to her husband. She wanted support and some sort of reassurance. What he said to her:"Get rid of the f--k--g thing." I wish I could type out the whole word so you'd feel the impact.She did what he suggested. She went to a Planned Parenthood clinic near where she lived in the midwest and had it done.On the way to the door she had to run a gauntlet. People with rage-twisted faces. They were not urging her to think about it. They were probably the same people who met planes returning from Vietnam. "BABY KILLER!" they screamed in her face. I suspect that these are the same people who would have mocked Jesus on the Via Dolorosa. Jesus? Someone getting an abortion? You mean, Mr. Wolman, to suggest that God loves even the sinner? Hrmmph!In 1997 when I was preparing for baptism and entry into the Church I would meet now and then with a priest in Westchester County, NY. I told him the story. He lowered his head and wept. "These people call themselves Christians?!" He'd prayed the Rosary at clinics. He'd counseled women contemplating abortion or who had gone through one. He did not condemn. He did not scream. He offered absolution and love.My S.O. now has a 19-year-old son she adores. She refused to abort a second time even though that was her husband's repeated desire. But she has gone from mere indifference to the Church in which she grew up to absolute lack of forgiveness. True, she can't separate the message from some of the people who deliver it, but I am the last one to cast stones. Nobody ever got in my face and called me a murderer.

08.01.05 Sparki777 says:

Amen, Mr. Kemper. Women get abortions because they think they DON'T have a choice, not because they do. We need to give them real choices and real help. That's the only way to put an end to abortion.

08.01.05 Godspy says:

In the fight against abortion there’s a time and place for protests or the use of graphic photos. However, protesting the women seeking abortion is not something we should do at all.